Techmeme
August 5, 2020, 1:20 PM

Top News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook launches Instagram Reels, its TikTok competitor that lets users create and publish 15-second videos, in 50+ countries, including the US, UK, and Japan  —  Instagram Reels, the company's significant effort in challenging TikTok on short-form creative content, is launching globally, starting today.
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Samsung announces 6.7" Galaxy Note20 and 6.9" Note20 Ultra with Android 10, Snapdragon 865+, and more, starting at $999 and $1,299  —  Samsung's Galaxy Note lineup has evolved over the years, but always remained a series for power users.  Today, Samsung is launching the Galaxy Note 20 series …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Samsung and Microsoft extend their partnership to add deeper integration with Office on Galaxy Note20 devices and let users stream Android apps to Windows 10  —  The new Samsung Galaxy Note 20 devices will support Office app synchronization, new Your Phone features and Microsoft's cloud gaming functionality.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Samsung announces the Galaxy Z Fold 2 with an upgraded camera system, larger 7.6-inch main display, and hole-punch cameras; release date and price TBA  —  The Fold is back  —  Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Z Fold 2 at its Unpacked event, the successor to last year's Galaxy Fold …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Files by Google adds a PIN-encrypted folder to protect sensitive files on Android  —  It's aimed at users who share devices, Google says  —  The Files by Google app, which primarily gives Android users an easy way to manage files and free up space on their phone, is getting a new PIN-protected “Safe Folder” feature.
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Samsung launches Galaxy Watch 3 in 41mm and 45mm variants with a thinner, lighter design on Samsung's Tizen platform, arriving on August 6 for $400+  —  Time to go upscale  —  Samsung has just announced the latest model in its long line of smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch 3.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Disney says Disney+ has grown to 60.5M subscribers, up from 54M in May, and it has 100M+ paid subs for streaming services including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+  —  Disney+ had more than 60.5 million paying subscribers as of yesterday, according to The Walt Disney Company's CEO Bob Chapek.
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Google says Google Play Music shutdown starts this month, global streaming will shut down in October, and music collections will be deleted in December  —  August begins the four-month Google Music shutdown.  —  Google Play Music has been given the death sentence by Google …
Kate Clark / The Information:
HeadSpin to return ~$95M to investors and has replaced its CEO after an internal review of financial irregularities; its valuation now down from $1.16B to $250M  —  HeadSpin, a mobile app testing company recently valued at $1.16 billion, plans to return up to $95 million in funding to investors …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
A hacker has posted a list of usernames, passwords, IP addresses and SSH keys of 900+ Pulse Secure VPN enterprise servers on a Russian-speaking hacker forum  —  EXCLUSIVE: The list has been shared on a Russian-speaking hacker forum frequented by multiple ransomware gangs.
Bill Kisliuk / UCLA:
UCLA and Apple launch a study to see whether iPhones, Watches, and Beddit sleep monitors can help in understanding how daily routines impact depression symptoms  —  Researchers from the Depression Grand Challenge collaborate with Apple  —  Researchers from the Depression Grand Challenge collaborate with Apple
Geoffrey Fowler / Washington Post:
Review of Amazon's Echo Frames, $180 Alexa-enabled glasses that debuted last year: their internet connectivity is flaky and Alexa is too chatty and disruptive  —  You have to really love Amazon's Alexa to let the Echo Frames whisper in your ear all day.  —  What do you call it when there's …
Bloomberg:
Interviews show Google automating mental health ads has boosted big firms and sidelined independent therapists, forcing them to spend more or face irrelevancy  —  The company's push into health care is a case study in how tech giants dominate small businesses.  And the U.S. government may have something to say about that.
Bloomberg:
Square reports Q2 total net revenue of $1.92B, up 64% YoY, with Cash App generating $875M in bitcoin revenue, gross profit up 167% YoY; stock up 13%  —  - Online payment volume jumped more than 50% year over year  — Square's Cash App has more than 30 million monthly customers

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Meet Airtable ProductCentral  —  The unified solution for managing your entire product development process in the AI era.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
Zoho Forms for successful Black Friday sales  —  Black Friday is a retail frenzy that can significantly impact your bottom line.  To make the most of this shopping bonanza, you need a strategy that not only attracts customers …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 11/04 - Apple Buying And Investing In Things
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:20 PM ET, August 5, 2020.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
TechCrunch:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge: